What's next?

[DZircher]

I've probably got the wrong forum for this question but let's feel it out.

I've been laid up for 6 weeks now. I've hobbling around at work the whole time. I've been hobbling at home in the mornings trying to get some thing to eat. And Jeez, getting ready for a shower seems like getting ready for deep sea diving. But you've got to get it done in normal time. It is definitely getting on my nerves. Contributing to a lot of the stress too. Hopefully tomorrow morning's orthopedic visit will be meaningful; the lack of ability to do even the smaller things I love has got me a little down.

Can any one tell me what physical therapy for my knee is going to be like?

Thank you friends!

-dana

[Jim]

if you're a fitness person, it's not bad at all.
it not, then you're going to think it sucks.

[nhbubba]

I just finished a couple months worth of PT visits for my shoulder. I had no surgery and my injury probably wasn't that major. But I was really impressed with the woman that did my PT with me.

Basically it was 1 hour long sessions:

Arrive, lay down and soak under a heat pad for 20-ish minutes.
Then she'd stretch and work both shoulders and my neck for 10-15 minutes.
Next I'd get handed weights and do a regiment of exercises.
Finally there were some non-weight exercises. She had a stair stepper setup on a table that I'd do 3-5 minute sets pushing down with my hands and a couple other things like that.

I am not a 'fitness' person. I waited WAY TOO LONG to start the PT. I have never done PT like that before and have always been of the "walk it off" mentality. This was a mistake. I saw HUGE gains for the first couple weeks. Then I crashed the bike again and had a bit of a setback. Not quite back to step one, but definitely a setback. Things progressed more linearly from there. Just the stretching and getting range of motion back felt huge.

There is a psychological aspect of this too. I spent so much time dragging my ass before going to PT that I now expect my arm to hurt when I move it. This makes me want to favor the other arm or avoid certain actions. For example I now often dip my head to scratch my nose or ear instead of raising my arm that high. I find that once I initiate the action it doesn't hurt nearly as much as I expected. But the mental block is still there. It's very creepy.

The most annoying part of the whole process was actually dealing with my insurance. Deductibles, cryptic bills and statements, and that "who can we sue" phone call. Good times.

[mzdagrl]

biggest factor with your knee is how you injured it. i am in pt for a 17 year old injury to my right knee right now. did 3 months of pt after the initial injury, got "old and lazy", and stopped working it the way i should, now it is back haunting me. whatever they tell you to do, it will be uncomfortable at first and get easier as you get helathier, don't get discouraged, keep doing it, and you get to be mindful of how you do stuff from now on (yay). form trumps everything - do it right. as an example, right now i am doing a variety of lunges and squats and these ball-hip-raise things that make me want to kill myself. prior to this round i did a variety of lunges, squats, bike pedaling, and was hooked up to some crazy electro-stimulator that made me want to kill myself. but it worked then and im sure it will work now. good luck!

[Kurlon]

Only thing I can add: Don't be a hero. If they say only push this hard, do not try and expedite the process by going all out.

[Chippertheripper]

What's next is full speed ahead. G'luck.